Pursuit of Ruth Suddenly Stalls

SAN FRANCISCO — If you didn’t know Jeff Kent, didn’t know Barry Bonds, didn’t know their lives together for six years here, you’d believe Kent wanted to catch that popup that left Bonds standing at home plate and embarrassed in his own ballpark Friday night.

“I’ll never tell,” Kent said, smiling.

In the 19th plate appearance since his 713th home run, Barry Bonds stood six steps from the batter’s box, his bat in his hand, staring into the air.

The ball fell toward his former teammate and enduring nemesis -- Kent -- who stood near second base, another ignominious, pop-up moment in Bonds’ suddenly stalled chase of Babe Ruth.

He turned and headed to the dugout. With one out, his teammate at first base, Mark Sweeney, stayed close to the bag.

Dodgers infielders shouted at Kent to drop the ball, Kent admitted. And, then, on a play he has made thousands of times, with the wind having paused, and no sun in his eyes, Kent dropped the ball.

The crowd reaction jerked Bonds’ head around. He saw the ball on the dirt, Kent scrambling after it, and turned and ran, a good 80 feet ahead of him. He galloped hard down the line and narrowly avoided a double play, muttered an explanation for his failure to run to first base coach Luis Pujols, and concluded another homerless day.

The Dodgers defeated the Giants, 6-1, Friday night at AT&T; Park, and Bonds has one hit and five walks in his last 14 at-bats. He was 0 for 3 with a walk against the Dodgers.

Afterward, Kent fielded every question -- Did you drop it on purpose? -- with a wry grin. The ball struck the heel of his glove but did not come off cleanly. By the time he chased the ball down and flipped it to Rafael Furcal, who threw to first, the double play was narrowly lost.

“I’ll never tell,” Kent said again.

They were Giants teammates for six years, and went to a World Series together in 2002. But, they rarely, if ever, got along, and famously fought in a San Diego dugout, also in 2002.

Forty-five minutes after the last out, Bonds arrived at his locker.

“No,” he said sternly, “I’m not talking.”

Giants Manager Felipe Alou said he did not speak to Bonds after the game about the popup, or about the sixth-inning fly ball that fell in left-center field, much closer to Bonds than to center fielder Steve Finley.

“I’m going to talk with him,” Alou said.

Asked whether he was disappointed Bonds hadn’t run out the popup, Alou said, “Well, I’ll answer that tomorrow.”

On a sore knee and carrying excess weight, Bonds has appeared more limited by the game, and might not play today.

“We know he has a lack of range,” Alou said. “The knee and, I don’t know, he’s not in 100% shape right now. And he’s going to be 42. I don’t know a lot of 42-year-olds with good range.”

The Giants celebrated Willie Mays’ 75th birthday before the game. Bonds sat beside his godfather during the ceremony. Tom Lasorda, scheduled to appear, did not attend.

Lasorda had agreed to participate in the on-field celebration and address the crowd.

He backed out Friday afternoon after he was quoted in USA Today being critical of Bonds, who is alleged to have taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs during five of his best seasons.

An hour before the game, Lasorda walked through the parking lot toward a shuttle bus that would take him to the team hotel. He held an ice cream cone in his right hand. He had spent only a few minutes at a private party honoring Mays but found that too uncomfortable.

“I’m not feeling very well,” Lasorda said quietly. “This thing has made me sick. I’m going back to the hotel.”

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Against the league

Barry Bonds’ career batting marks against opposing teams, ranked by most home runs:

*--* Team AB H HR RBI Avg. San Diego 794 258 82 204 325 Washington 776 248 63 150 320 Dodgers 787 214 62 145 272 Philadelphia 710 223 62 163 314 Cincinnati 557 180 57 145 323 Colorado 500 173 48 121 346 Chicago 782 193 43 122 247 St. Louis 686 184 38 115 268 New York 795 228 37 137 287 Atlanta 584 169 37 104 289 Houston 577 177 37 103 308 Arizona 334 101 33 81 302 Florida 281 86 25 61 306 Pittsburgh 287 90 19 51 371 Milwaukee 147 53 19 49 361 San Francisco 245 68 15 43 278 Interleague 376 115 36 71 306 Totals 9218 2760 713 1865 299

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